In the words of Cait… I ate the library this week. It wasn’t completely my fault though. I take Elsa to a baby group every week in the library and while we are there we choose some books for her to take home for the week. She hates it in the adult library though and usually screams all the way round so I have stopped attempting to browse for books for myself. These days I reserve everything online which means I can just pop in and check the books out before Elsa has a tantrum. Usually my reservations take one or two weeks to be ready for collection so I do it in advance. Last week I picked up five books, four of which are pictured below. I also got Half Bad by Sally Green which I read and returned already.

I then reserved three more books to pick up when I’d finished with my current loans: Black Bird volume 2 (even though I didn’t really like volume 1 too much), Saga Volume 1 and The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami. I got the notification that they had arrived pretty quickly but I figured it was a one off and decided to reserve some other books over the weekend. When I went to return my books and pick up the three that had arrived (plus Insurgent) I found a huge stack waiting for me on the reservations shelf. I felt a little bit silly checking them all out and now my TBR is ridiculous but I’m excited to read all of these. One of the problems with reserving online though is that you can’t always tell if you are selecting the right thing. I ended up with The Way of Kings part 2 instead of part 1 because they were both listed as ‘The Way of Kings’. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go ahead and reserve part 1 now too…

Elsa loves the library. She usually gets tons of books out and scatters them all over the floor and I end up frantically tidying up before the Rattle and Rhyme group starts.

She is really into Maisy books and we are slowly making our way through all of them! We managed to find three that we haven’t had before today so she was pretty pleased with that. We also picked up a Ladybird Toddler Touch book. We have had quite a few from the Baby Touch range and she really likes them so I thought we’d try one for older children this time. Her vocabulary is really coming on at the moment and there are lots of new words in this book for her to learn. If you’ve got a little one I definitely recommend checking out these books and the Apps that are available for the iPhone too.

I tried to take a picture before she got to them but there was no chance! It’s pretty much a constant stream of books in our house. She gets quite annoyed if she wants someone to read to her and everyone is busy.

So that’s my completely over-the-top library haul for this week. Obviously I am not going to read all these before my next library trip but I will try not to take any more out until I have cleared these. I’m actually reading a review copy at the moment (The Deadly 7 by Garth Jennings) so I won’t even be starting on my library books yet!

Have you read any of these? Any recommendations on which one to start with?

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR BLOG IS PERFORMING WELL?

I know that most people will say to ignore your stats and just blog for yourself and usually I would probably agree with that but sometimes I think it is necessary to look at the numbers. I see people talking about ‘the big book bloggers’ and I have no idea who they are. I think in the beauty blogging world it’s quite obvious who the big names are and it is definitely always the same people I see with the PR samples and the event invitations. However when it comes to book blogs I really don’t have a clue. I follow a lot of blogs on Bloglovin’ and I obviously have my favourites but I don’t know that these are necessarily the most popular ones. I don’t even know how to tell if a blog is a big one or not. I suppose that number of followers is a good indicator but sometimes I see that a blog has around 50 followers and yet they are still getting a ton of ARCs and interest from authors and publishers. This kind of makes me wonder what they are doing to get this kind of attention. I suppose I am still fairly new to the blogging world and so my stats aren’t exactly sky high but I don’t think I know what I should be aiming for when it comes to page views in order for them to be considered good.

WHAT DO PUBLISHERS AND PR COMPANIES CONSIDER GOOD TRAFFIC FOR A BOOK BLOG?

A few months ago I stopped requesting and accepting physical ARCs so that I could focus on the books I really wanted to get through for myself, but sometimes I do still use NetGalley. I have been rejected for quite a few books this week- ones that I was really excited for- and it has made me question what exactly I am doing wrong. When your requests get declined you usually get an email with a few reasons why that might have happened. I have often read through them and thought that they don’t apply to me so why am I still getting rejected? It’s very frustrating.

I like to read articles about blogging and I have come across quite a few advice pieces on how to get accepted for ARCs and PR samples. Most of these recommend that you create a media kit for your blog so that when a publisher or PR company asks for your stats you have it all ready in one place. The thing is, I don’t know if I should be embarrassed of my numbers or proud of them. I don’t really want to send off my information if I am just going to be making a fool of myself so how do I know what is the standard?

Is there information available somewhere which details what companies expect in terms of reach for a blog before they will consider sending out review copies? If there is I haven’t been able to find it. So what is a book blogger to do? Should we send out requests anyway and risk looking stupid?

WHEN IS IT ACCEPTABLE TO REQUEST ARCS?

What do you think companies are looking for in a blog? I would say that an established blog is much more likely to get review copies than a new blogger but what if you’ve been blogging for 5 years and you are averaging 5 page views a day? That doesn’t seem like it is particularly beneficial for publicity either. Do social media followers count as well? What about Goodreads and Amazon? Your reviews probably count for more there than they do on your blog so will a publisher look at that too? It’s all so confusing. For now I won’t be requesting anymore titles on NetGalley until I can figure out what it is I need to be offering.

So what do you think? Are stats important to you? And if you are an author/publisher/PR person then what exactly do you look for in a blog?

Synopsis

I had no idea GirlOnline would take off the way it has – I can’t believe I now have 5432 followers, thanks so much! – and the thought of opening up to you all about this is terrifying, but here goes . . .

Penny has a secret.

Under the alias GirlOnline, she blogs about school dramas, boys, her mad, whirlwind family – and the panic attacks she’s suffered from lately. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets the gorgeous, guitar-strumming Noah. Suddenly Penny is falling in love – and capturing every moment of it on her blog.

But Noah has a secret too. One that threatens to ruin Penny’s cover – and her closest friendship – forever.

Review

I just want to discuss the whole Siobhan Curham/ ghostwriting thing briefly before I get into my review. I know it’s been talked about so much already but I kind of feel obliged to share my opinion on the whole thing.

I pre-ordered this book months before it came out. I have watched Zoe’s videos and read her blog for 4-5 years now and when she announced she was releasing a book I knew straight away that I wanted to read it to see what it was like.

I don’t really care if it was ghostwritten. I don’t feel cheated and I’m not surprised that she had some help with the writing. I think it’s a shame if some people bought it thinking that she wrote it herself and now feel let down in some way but, for me personally, I don’t think it matters. Zoe is a brand and I am happy to support her by purchasing the book in the same way that I would buy her beauty products if I used makeup regularly. She probably didn’t make those by hand either y’know.

I am actually quite happy that this book has sold so well and hopefully it is encouraging teenage girls (and boys?) to read more often. I mentioned it in a post a while ago but I really wish young people had more of an interest in reading so hopefully this will kick start that. If it does then we should really be thanking Zoe for putting it out there.

THINGS I LIKED

It’s a lot of fun and a very easy, enjoyable read. Penny and Noah are likeable characters and I was rooting for them all the way through. It reminds me a lot of Lindsey Kelk’s I Heart New York but for a much younger audience.

It has some great messages for it’s readers about loving yourself despite your flaws, not paying attention to bullies, putting on a brave face etc.

I liked the blog post entries. I don’t know if Zoe wrote these bits herself but they are very similar to the way she writes her blog and the way she talks in her videos. Obviously Penny is based very heavily on Zoe and her own experiences and so it comes across as very authentic and relatable.

THINGS THAT ANNOYED ME

Penny is 15. Noah is 18. Am I the only one who is bothered by this? I know it’s not a huge age gap but I kind of think that if a famous person fell in love with a minor in real life the press would have something to say about it.

It’s very juvenile and I felt way too old to be reading it but I knew I wasn’t the target audience when I started it so I can’t really complain. I just think you need to be aware that this is very young YA possibly even Middle Grade. I can imagine 12 year olds reading it at a sleepover.

It’s basically romance-by-numbers and is absolutely full of stereotypes and clichés. If you don’t mind that then it’s fine but it might make you roll your eyes a few hundred times.

Rating

This week’ topic is books I’m excited about that are released next year, but not debuts. I actually found it quite hard to only pick books that aren’t debuts because there are loads of those that I can’t wait for! There are so many other amazing books out next year though and I really can’t wait to get started on them.

1. \\ Untitled (Throne of Glass #4) – Sarah J. Maas – 10th September 2015
I haven’t even read Heir of Fire yet because I don’t know how well I will be able to handle the massive wait for the next book but I know I will need it right away.

2. \\ A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J. Maas – 5th May 2015
Sarah J. Maas does Beauty and the Beast. This will probably be the best book ever written.

3. \\ Crimson Bound – Rosamund Hodge – 5th May 2015
People are already reviewing this one and I am super jealous because it’s not out over here for ages.

4. \\ Lois Lane: Fallout – Gwenda Bond – 1st May 2015
Erm, a series about Lois Lane? I think yes. I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard Superman fan but the idea of Lois as the main character sounds ace.

5. \\ The Darkest Part of the Forest – Holly Black – 13th January 2015
This was on my list last week as one of the books I hope to read during Winter. After reading The Iron Trial and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown I’m a little bit of a new fan of Holly Black so I can’t wait to get my hands on this.

6. \\ Vanishing Girls – Lauren Oliver – 10th March 2015
I didn’t like Panic, which is the only book I’ve read by this author, but I do like the premise of Vanishing Girls so I still want to give it a go.

7. \\ The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2) – Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
I loved the first book and I am super excited that books 2-5 have appeared on Goodreads! There’s no cover or release date yet but it will hopefully be out in 2015 as planned!

8. \\ Every Last Word – Tamara Ireland Stone – 16th June 2015
This is a book about a girl with Purely-Obsessional OCD. As some of you may be aware I have OCD and am always on the lookout for books about it with characters I can relate to. I have high hopes for this one and it’s out a few days after my birthday! Hurray.

9. \\ There Will Be Lies – Nick Lake – 6th January 2015
This one is all over my Twitter feed this week, with lots of people receiving their ARCs. The plot caught my attention; a girl and her mother are on the run from something and it sounds like there is a lot of deceit and mystery involved.

10. \\ Mechanica – Betsy Cornwell – 4th August 2015
Okay first of all, THAT COVER. Secondly, it’s another fairytale retelling – Cinderella this time – and I am apparently all about those next year.

About Us

Hello and welcome to our little space! Mummy (27) and Elsa (18 months) will be sharing the books we read and the things we get up to! To get in touch you can find us on Twitter @booksandbaby or e-mail us atbooksandbaby@gmail.com.

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Sometimes I review books that have been sent to me by the publisher or author. I will never accept payment in exchange for a positive review, nor will the fact that I am sent the book for free affect the content of my review. All review books will be clearly marked. I am a member of several affiliate programs and so occasionally links from this site will allow me to earn a small commission on purchases. Thank you for supporting Books and Baby etc.